Mets Left-Hander Has Become an (Almost) Everyday Player

WASHINGTON — Scott Rice cupped his right hand over his left shoulder while speaking to a reporter inside the Mets’ clubhouse one recent afternoon.

“It’s funny,” he said. “My arm feels awesome. But people keep coming up to me like: ‘How’s your arm? Are you O.K.?’ And I’m like: ‘Man, it feels good, but now I don’t know. Is it supposed to be hurting?’ ”

He squeezed the shoulder and circled his arm a few times, allowing a concerned expression to spread across his face. “Wait a second,” he joked.

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APRIL 7 VS. MARLINS 20 pitches and his first win.CreditAl Bello/Getty Images

Rice, a 6-foot-6-inch left-hander and 31-year-old rookie, has understood the concerns cast upon him. Before the Mets’ 10-1 win over the Washington Nationals on Wednesday, his 32 pitching appearances represented baseball’s high figure.

The Mets, who gave Rice his first big league chance after he spent 14 years in the minors, have developed a reputation in recent years for pushing their left-handed relievers to extreme levels. The most notable example, Pedro Feliciano, has not pitched in the majors since appearing 92 times for the Mets during the 2010 season — and that was after he made more than 170 appearances over the two previous seasons combined.

Thus, while jokes that Rice has been making up for lost time have come easily, the humor overlays a murkier subtext. Rice entered Wednesday on pace to pitch in 94 games this season. He produced his present career high for appearances during the 2010 season, which he split between Class AA and Class AAA, with 58. He appeared 49 times two years ago and 54 times last season. This year, he said, he will not let injury concerns consume him.

“It’s the same as driving,” Rice said. “You could get into an accident. You wear a seat belt, but it’s not something you dwell on.”

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APRIL 19 VS. NATIONALS 10 pitches to get three outs.CreditElsa/Getty Images

Rice and his coaches said there were clear communication lines inside the clubhouse. The pitching coach Dan Warthen said Rice hinted he might need some rest after pitching three straight games against the Yankees last week, so he went unused for two consecutive days over the weekend in Miami.

“I ask the individual,” Warthen said about Rice, “and he’ll say he’s ready on each individual day, and he’s honest about it.”

Rice was available but unneeded Wednesday because the Mets unleashed an offensive torrent upon the Nationals. Each batter in the lineup recorded at least one hit — even the right-hander Dillon Gee, who allowed one run in seven innings while striking out seven batters.

Marlon Byrd belted two home runs, and David Wright socked one of his own, as the Mets tied a season high with 15 hits.

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APRIL 27 VS. PHILLIES Two innings in a 9-4 loss.CreditJason Szenes/Getty Images

“We needed one very bad,” Manager Terry Collins said of the blowout. “We’ve been in our share of close games all year, being on both ends of it. To have a game where we could take a deep breath and relax a bit was certainly welcomed and needed.”

Rice will feature again soon enough. Problems have abounded inside the Mets’ bullpen, which began Wednesday with a major-league-worst 4.97 earned run average. The team has been unable to find left-handers — other than Rice — to whom they can entrust a close game.

Facing such circumstances, both Collins and Warthen have characterized Rice as “a savior” for the Mets — an unlikely outcome given his modest professional background. Since beginning the season at the back of the bullpen, he has become a go-to pitcher, though his E.R.A. ballooned to 4.00 from 3.08 after an uncharacteristically poor performance Sunday against the Marlins.

“The guy was in the minor leagues as long as he was, and no one gave him a chance,” Warthen said. “Now he’s come up and done what he’s done. He has been a big surprise.”

Rice, a sinkerball pitcher, credited his success this season to a new willingness to throw pitches he formerly would have been uncomfortable trying.

Most left-handed sinkerballers like to throw the pitch inside to left-handed hitters and use sliders outside to complement it. Rice, after encouragement from catcher John Buck, has begun spotting his sinker — as well as his slider and splitter — to both sides of the plate.

“I’ve always had my set way of pitching, something I felt worked for me, to a point,” Rice said. “Buck has forced me to throw pitches I wasn’t comfortable throwing, because I wasn’t sure I was able to execute them.”

Even Buck has been impressed how much Rice has progressed since arriving at spring training. Most of Rice’s improvements, he said, had intangible roots.

“His stuff has been the same, but he’s improved since spring training because he trusts it more, and he came to realize how much more he could do,” Buck said. “He’s bought in to the idea that his stuff plays at the major league level. The mental side, the confidence, ultimately, makes you better.”

And as he has gotten better, Rice has become the workhorse of the Mets’ bullpen.

For previous Mets left-handers, that role has been perilous. Feliciano, 36, returned to the Mets this season on a minor league deal but has been unable to get his velocity up. Tim Byrdak, 39, was leading the league in appearances last summer for the Mets when he was found to have a torn capsule in his shoulder. Josh Edgin, 26, a rookie last year who inherited much of Byrdak’s workload, has struggled this season at Class AAA after beginning the year in the majors.

Warthen said he did not want to see any pitcher hurt. But he emphasized that every player was different. Past injuries, he said, particularly those to older players like Feliciano and Byrdak, should not inform current thinking.

“We’ll find out at the end of the year,” he said. “We’ll find out whether 90 appearances, 80 appearances, is too much for him.”

That, for some, is precisely the concern.

A version of this article appears in print on , on Page B15 of the New York edition with the headline: Mets Left-Hander Has Become an (Almost) Everyday Player. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe